This week, we returned to the glory of Saint Paul, to the Como Park Conservatory, mere blocks from this blogger's home. It feels good to be on the right side of the cities again. The Conservatory has long been known in my world as a good way to beat the winter blues, but it also has a rich history and an important place in the civic world today.
One of the brochures I picked up tells me that "The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory is one of the last remaining historic glasshouses in the United States and is on the National Register of Historic Places." We here in the Twin Cities are truly blessed to have such an amazing place available to us.
The conservatory was built in the fashion of the "Crystal Palace" greenhouses that were popular from the early-mid-1800s onward, fueled by the Crystal Palace Conservatory that was the focal point of the Great Exhibition of London in 1851.
Conservatories started spreading across the US in the late 1800s, soon found in almost every major locale, and used as a sign that a city had moved from being a burgeoning settlement to being cosmopolitan. San Fransisco, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and New York were home to stunning glass conservatories, and Saint Paul followed suit in 1915.
The Conservatory building is a work of art in itself. Its glittering glass construction has a very delicate grace, yet the Ionic stone columns give it a stately aura. From the outside the conservatory appears expansive, the dome arching into the sky and the wings on either side stretching wide.
From the solidarity of the building materials, it could have been carved out of ice, and its beauty feels rather cold, that of a beautiful ice queen.
Inside, however, is a completely different matter. One step in and you are blanketed by the heavy warmth and humidity.
Every iota of space is packed with an endless variety of lush green vegetation, surrounding you on all sides and arcing over your head.
Palm trees reach up, their masses spreading into the very top of the dome.
The vegetation is thick and dense, the space inside feels smaller, packed, but deeper and with unending variety and character.
This feeling continues from the Palm Dome into the (also) tropical North Garden, but is quite different in the Sunken Garden, which showcases low flower displays surrounding a pool and walkway, with the curved glass of the conservatory arching over everything.
It feels lighter, brighter, more open and clear.
In addition to the plant displays, several sculptures are featured in the conservatory. In the center of the Palm Dome is "Crest of the Wave" by Harriet W. Frishmuth.
The statue depicts a young girl nymph, dancing, springing playfully, reaching up with and arm stretched over her head, a small wave cresting under her feet.
Placed under the very center of the Palm Dome, she gives a sense of leaping, reaching up, trying to spring as high as the palm trees that surround her and touch the top of the dome as they do.
The sculpture in the Sunken Garden is also by Frishmuth, titled "Play Days". It is featured in the center of the pool at the end of the Sunken Garden, and depicts another nymph, tentatively, hesitantly dipping her foot into the water. It is as if she is exploring the nature that surrounds her.
The third sculpture is a bit different, made out of stone instead of bronze, not an image of a playful nymph but a serene representation of St. Francis of Assisi, by Donald Shepard. Instead of being featured in the middle of a pool or fountain, he is somewhat eclipsed by surrounding lush vegetation, on the side of the pool in the North Garden.
Unlike the other two statues, he is not enraptured with his own recreation, but rather an observer of everything around him.
All of these sculptures do evoke similar themes, of human's place in nature, playing, exploring, observing the natural world. They all give a sense of being attuned with the natural world, of showing how humans and nature can go together happily. I think this is a very important theme in a botanical garden, to show that humans can not simply observe the natural world but also be one with it.
Flower and plant displays have always been the focal point for Como Park, in the past and in present day. In the beginning, displays were a great point of contention, as two different philosophies pertaining to flower and plant displays were at odds with one another. One side believed that Como Park should be completely naturalistic, void of statues or man-made designs in vegetation, along the lines of an English pleasure ground, not managed or guided by man. Opposite of this were those who believed in the value of art intertwined with parks; of managed and purposeful (sometimes exotic) garden arrangements; and of mosaiculture or carpet bedding, the art of constructing designs, motifs, and figures using flowers and plants. Though the naturalistic proponents insisted that such endeavors assaulted the lofty and poetic sensibilities of how parks should be, the pedestrian tastes of mosaiculture had the voice of the masses, as people came by the droves to revel in the man-made exotic garden habitats, and to be astounded by the figures and designs. However, this is still a philosophical argument that is alive and well today.
Saint Paul earned a place of recognition for the mosaiculture displays, and also for cultivating exotic plants successfully far away from their native climate. These plant and flower displays were important in positioning the Twin Cities as a scientifically and artistically advanced metropolis, on the level with other major cities in the US. These points are still important today, as the renowned flower displays in the conservatory are a point of local pride and pleasure.
The autumn floral display in the Sunken Garden features a colorful variety of chrysanthemums which will transition from bright pastels in early fall to deep autumn hues as the season progresses.
These are accented by the deep colors of Swiss Chard and ornamental peppers. The design was full of bright, uplifting colors. The mums are great bounding, eager masses of color and texture, and gave the whole garden space a sense of bright, light, clean loveliness.
All in all, the Como Park Conservatory is a fantastic place any time of year. It is a treasure for our Cities and a place that, without fail, lifts the spirits. It's also just really pretty.
You, dear reader, should go visit. Often.
-Catherine
A special treat:
From "Jewel of Como"
"The latest addition to the conservatory's art collection is a coin-operated animatronic figure created by Dean Lucker and donated in 2005 by Doe Hauser Stowell in memory of her husband, James Stowell. The statuette depicts a man leaning against a flowering tree while holding up a lighted carousel. With the deposit of a quarter, the carousel spins and the viewer receives a fortune. The whimsical statuette is the most recent expression of St. Paulites' strong connection to Como Park and its conservatory, and the desire to enhance it and to share with it their own favorite works of art."
Want to see it in action? And to know my fortune? Watch below...
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